Trek acquires RadioShack-Leopard for 2014 season

RadioShack-Leopard will race under a new name and, presumably, new colors starting in 2014. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com

RadioShack-Leopard will race with a new name next season, thanks to a deal that will have Trek Bicycle as the team’s owner.

Based in Waterloo, Wis., Trek purchased the squad from Leopard SA, owned by Flavio Becca. The team was formed for the start of the 2011 season and has raced under three different names: Leopard Trek, RadioShack-Nissan, and RadioShack-Leopard.

Nissan ended its sponsorship after last season and the team’s future was in doubt for 2014. Under the new deal, the team will operate under its current ownership and sponsorship for the remainder of this season.

In a press release, Trek said it is in the process of securing partners for the 2014 campaign. There’s no word on which riders will make up the team, but the release said Trek would try to keep as many riders as possible from the current lineup.

“I am proud to hand over this project to the people at Trek Bicycle, who have been a very dependable and loyal partner over the past three years,” Leopard CEO Flavio Becca said. “When we started in the summer of 2010 we had a blank canvas in our hands, a puzzle. Now, three seasons later, we have a team that has won some of the biggest races of cycling with Fabian Cancellara and put two Schleck brothers from Luxembourg together on the podium of the Tour de France.”

Trek vice president Joe Vadeboncoeur said the acquisition will help Trek’s global product strategy.

“We will have the ability to create more and better marketing content,” Vadeboncoeur said. “The riders’ nationalities represent our major markets and become an army of ambassadors at events all over the world. We can have better integration into new product development and the ability for hospitality and activation at events.”